John Keats became the inspiration and one of the major characters (as cybrids (genetic clone) – AIs) at the science fiction cycle of Dan Simmons’ “Hyperion Cantos”.

King Billy smiled sadly.“And do you know why the name is p-p-propitious for our endeavour?” It took me about ten seconds to make the connection. “Keats,” I said. Several years earlier, near the end of a long discussion about the essence of poetry, King Billy had asked me who was the purest poet who had ever lived. “The purest?” I had said. “Don’t you mean the greatest ?” “No, no,” said Billy, “that’s absurd t-t-to argue over who is the greatest. I’m curious about your opinion of the p-p-purest… the closest to the essence you describe.” I had thought about it a few days and then brought my answer to King Billy as we watched the setting suns from the top of the bluff near the palace. Red and blue shadows stretched across the amber lawn toward us. “Keats,” I said. “John Keats,” whispered Sad King Billy. “Ahh.” And then a moment later: “Why?” So I had told him what I knew about the nineteenth-century Old Earth poet; about his upbringing, training, and early death… but mostly about a life dedicated almost totally to the mysteries and beauties of poetic creation.

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